Devotional Reading: Mark 2: 1-12

Text: Then four people came to Him (Jesus) carrying a paralyzed man. (v. 3)

No one becomes a Jesus follower on their own. Throughout our lives God touches us with touches that are often too gentle and too mundane to even be noticed.

I’ve been touched multiple times. The first touch that I remember was that of my parents. At night they would kneel with me beside my bed as we’d say our prayers.
“Now I lay me down to sleep…”  “Our Father, who art in heaven,  …”

Later I was touched by a Sunday School teacher named Mr. Cation. He was a widower. Each Saturday afternoon he’d bake brownies or cookies to share with us at the end of class. One Sunday he wasn’t in class, and we learned a hard reality of life; Mr. Cation died the night before. Blessed in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints. (Psalm 116:15)

After Mr. Cation there was a Mr. Koch. He had thick glasses and blond hair. We met in the minister’s office, five of us sitting in a circle. Somehow he always arranged for me to read the shortest verse in the lesson. I think that it was because he knew that I am a stutter and sometimes it was hard for me to verbalize, especially under pressure.

I had a young Sunday School teacher whose name I do not remember. But I do remember how she didn’t shrink from hard questions. I was in 4th or 5th grade with a very curious mind. I once asked her “If Adam and Eve were the first people and if they had two sons, does that mean that there was incest?” She neither blushed not stumbled but simply said that it was a very good question and that I should ask our minister. I did. Then, later, around Christmas, when we read the Christmas story in Luke’s gospel, I asked, “What’s womb?” We had just read how the baby in Elizabeth’s “womb” leaped at the sound of Mary’s voice. She very gently patted her enlarged tummy and said that it is the place where the baby grows in a mommy’ tummy. Question answered. Faith shared.

I had many other touches in life along the way. No one comes to Jesus on their own. We are carried by others, just like the paralyzed man in today’s text and reading.

So, who are the people who touched your life? Whose life are you touching?

Lord, thank you for those saints who helped mold my faith. May I touch another so that they can know You better. Amen.